Facebook cuts your business name from some content sharing

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It’s a little harder for marketers to use Facebook in social media strategies using curated content, or content sharing.  Social media strategists report that marketers use an average of 20% original content and 80% curated content. (Read 26 Tips for Getting Started with Social Media Marketing.) This is standard practice and it works because 100% of the content is relevant to your audience. But, you might want to revisit this strategy when sharing content through your Facebook channel.

Last week, I posted a cool graphic from my Pinterest page onto my Facebook business page (myMarketing Cafe). The content was great for both channels and would reach different segments of my audience. Sounds pretty easy, right? No. Facebook now allows members to “remove” attribution for content that is shared. What does this mean?

If I like your content, I can share it and take you out of the mix.

Basically, when I spend time looking for content to engage my audience and hopefully reach an extended audience, my reach is now limited to just my fans.  Marketers look forward to the new prospects they reach when their content is shared, regardless if it’s their own content or content they found and are sharing.  Below are pictures to walk you through what happens.

This picture shows you the content I shared as a status update through our Facebook page. (Notice how I even attributed the content to the original creator, Design The Life You Want To Live, by tagging them in the post.)

Facebook attribution 1

Picture 2 shows how your audience has the option of removing you from the content when they share it.

Facebook attribution 3This next picture shows an example of two different shares of this same content.  The first did not show that the content was shared via myMarketing Cafe, and the second did.

Facebook attribution 2

Why is this important?  Content has greater value when shared.  If the friend of a fan sees where the content came from, they might be inclined to also like your page.  It’s so effective that Facebook even offers this strategy as an advertising option with Facebook ads.  Fortunately this restriction does not affect content that you create through your business Facebook page’s uploaded photos or videos.  In addition, your Facebook insights still show the full engagement of your content.

Here’s a work around.

Tie your shared content to your other platforms:

  • A dedicated landing page on your website
  • A photo gallery from your website
  • Your company blog
  • Your other social media channels

The content above was actually something that came from a myMarketing Cafe Pinterest board, so even though Facebook fans might choose to share it without doing so via the myMarketing Cafe Facebook page, viewers will still see that it comes from one of my other channels.

It’s your turn… what ideas do you have that could help with this?